Chapter 1: Equality or Death
Crowds of Equalists gathered outside the Republic City battle arena, talking, whispering amongst themselves, unknowing, uncertain of what was happening within. They knew only that their leader, Amon, was locked in combat with the Avatar, who had launched an attack on their victory rally mere moments before, after making some ridiculous and scandalous accusations against their leader.
The battle arena was one of the more popular hotspots in Republic City. For decades it had been the home of the United Republics most popular sport, pro-bending, and was thus accustomed to containing intense bending battles. However, deep within the bowels of its back hallways, the arena now played host to a bending struggle of a different sort. This one not over money or prestige, but a matter of life or death.
Amon stood over Korra, his right thumb pressed firmly to her forehead. Korra shuddered, and her pupils dilated as she felt something within herself change. All at once she felt weak and tired.
Amon spoke, his voice cold, "I told you I would destroy you."
Releasing her from his grip, Amon allowed Korra to fall limply to the floor.
To one side, Mako looked on in horror. No, this can't be happening! The back of his mind buzzed, the potential ramifications of the Avatar being unable to bend… But no, that wasn't important right now. The only thing that mattered was getting to Korra, and getting out of this place. If only he could move! But unfortunately he was still locked painfully within Amon's blood-bending grip.
His increased struggling brought him to Amon's attention. Turning and beginning to stalk slowly towards him towards him, he spoke again, "It's over. Accept it."
Meanwhile, off to the other side of the room, through a crack in the open door, a pair of Equalist lieutenants looked on in equal horror, though for decidedly different reasons. Their leader, the great Amon, founder of the Equalist Movement, was bending!
"H... How… How can this be!?" Lieutenant Luyon whispered in shock.
Next to him, his fellow lieutenant was just as disturbed, but nonetheless managed to keep his emotions in check, and said nothing in reply. His fists clenched, he knew what he had to do.
Mako watched helplessly as Amon continued to approach. His arms were held splayed out to the sides by Amon's bending, and he couldn't move enough to do any serious fire-bending. All he could do was watch his doom come closer.
This is it then? Mako thought to himself. After all we've done, it ends like this?
As Amon was almost upon him, he spoke once more, "It ends with you," and he reached towards him, when suddenly he jerked to a stop.
All at once Amon's body was bathed in electricity. He spasmed and jerked around, crying out in pain.
Mako felt Amon's blood bending grip vanish almost as soon as whatever it was hit him. What's happening? Who's doing this? He glanced towards Korra, but no, she had lost her bending, and in any case she was only just now pulling herself slowly to her knees. When the electricity stopped, Amon fell to his knees, almost in parallel to Mako. Mako looked up to see the identity of his rescuer, and was shocked by what he saw.
Behind Amon stood an Equalist. His uniform was slightly more ornate than the typical Equalist soldier's, with shoulder-pads marking him as a lieutenant, though Mako noted that he also wore the traditional red ascot that marked the Equalist's elite chi-blockers. On each of his hands he wore one of the Equalist's electrified gloves, no doubt one of which he'd used to incapacitate Amon. From the neck up his uniform resembled that of the insurgents who had attacked the arena on the night of the pro-bending championship, with a mask covering the lower half of his face, and the rest being shadowed by a hood. Even so, Mako could see that the left side of his face had a long, thin white scar running down it, passing over his left eye, which had neither iris nor pupil, but was a blank white orb. His right eye, hazel, gazed down at Amon sadly.
Moving slowly, he walked up until he was only a few inches behind Amon and raised his gloved hands until they were level with Amon's head, just a few inches from touching him. Dimly, Mako wondered if perhaps he should do something, but instead he remained transfixed, looking on in stunned fascination.
Amon, his body still suffering the effects of the electricity, unable to summon the concentration to bend, shakily turned his head to look at his attacker, "Ryuko, what…?"
Slowly, the man named Ryuko gripped both sides of Amon's head and forced him to face forward, once again looking right at Mako. "For what you have done for us…" the man spoke softly, "…thank you." And with that, he suddenly activated his electric gloves.
Mako, mouth now agape in horror, watched as electricity arced over Amon's entire body, but most especially around his masked head. For a moment, Mako felt as though he were looking into the face of some wailing spirit, as the lightning caused the eyeholes of the mask to seemingly glow with an inner light, and Amon's shrieks of pain filled the air. The horrible spectacle seemed to last for hours, though in reality couldn't have been more than a few seconds.
Then, all at once, the lightning stopped, and everything in the room was still and silent.
Mako looked at Amon, and felt bile rising in his throat at what he saw. Smoke now rose from the Equalist leader's head, and mixed clear and red liquid began to leak from the mask's eye and nostril holes. The rank smell of burned flesh filled the air, nearly causing Mako to lose the contents of his stomach.
Then suddenly the stillness ended as Ryuko released his grip on Amon's head, and the man's lifeless body toppled forward, his melted head hitting the floor with a sickeningly wet thud, just inches away from where Mako kneeled on the ground. Shocked and disgusted, Mako scooted away from the body as best he could.
"Ryuko!"
From behind the masked man another Equalist lieutenant had entered the room. Mako recognized him as the kali-stick wielding lieutenant whom Bolin had nicknamed "Mustache Guy". "What on earth have you done!?" he asked, perfectly summarizing the thoughts of everyone else in the room.
Ryuko, on the other hand, seemed unperturbed. Calmly, he turned to face his fellow lieutenant. "I did what had to be done, Luyon. You saw what he was doing," he said, gesturing to the corpse behind him, "You know what it means. He was a bender."
Mako, still shocked at the gruesome murder that had just taken place right in front of him, numbly managed to speak, "You just killed your own leader."
This finally brought Mako to Ryuko's full attention, and the man turned to look directly at Mako for the first time. Mako winced at having that sharp, one-eyed gaze turned on him. The man's mismatched eyes made it uncomfortable to meet his gaze directly. "You're hardly in a position to complain," he replied, his voice taking on a sardonic tone, "and in any case, don't you have other concerns?" He gestured off to the side, where Korra was now rising shakily to her feet, her arms wrapped protectively around herself.
Immediately forgetting everything else, Mako ran to her side, wrapping an arm around her to steady her. Korra leaned into him, allowing him to support her. Korra had always been strong physically, and a force of nature personally, and Mako was frightened by how small and frail she suddenly seemed to him. "Mako," she spoke in a broken whisper, "He took my bending… It's gone."
"It's okay," Mako replied, though he knew it wasn't, "We're both still alive, it'll be alright."
"Avatar." Ryuko once more drew the attention in the room back to him. Then, motioning towards the open door with his head, he continued, "You can go."
The scarred Equalist caught everyone off guard with that statement.
"You're letting us go?" Korra asked disbelievingly.
"Why?" Mako asked, confused and slightly suspicious.
Lieutenant Luyon walked closer to Ryuko and lowered his voice so that only he could hear, "Ryuko, are you sure? What are you thinking?"
"There is no point in continuing this battle. Neither side stands to gain anything if we continue to fight." Ryuko spoke, responding to all three at once. Then turning to regard Mako and Korra directly, he continued, "Though if you truly wish to fight us, we will gladly oblige you."
Mako looked quickly back and forth between the two Equalist lieutenants. The answer was obvious. He knew for a fact that in his current condition he couldn't best Mustache Guy one-on-one, much less him and someone else too. Not to even mention that the other lieutenant looked dangerous in his own right, and with Korra in the condition she was in…
"I should mention," Ryuko spoke once more, interrupting Mako's contemplation, "that I called for reinforcements before coming here. They will be here shortly."
Mako nodded. That sealed it. "Alright, we'll go." Turning to Korra, he spoke softly, "C'mon Korra. Let's get out of here while we can."
Korra, still somewhat in shock, nodded dully and easily complied with Mako's suggestion. Still holding on to each other the two made their way quickly out the door, heading for one of the battle arena's exits.
After watching the two leave, Ryuko turned back to find his fellow lieutenant standing over the body of their former leader. "He's… really gone." Luyon said morosely.
Ryuko nodded, "It was unfortunate, but necessary. If word got out of what Amon was the Equalists would be finished. The Avatar came here for that very purpose, to destroy us from within."
"She succeeded." Luyon said sadly, "Without Amon…"
"Nothing has changed!" Ryuko cut in sharply. "The Equalist Movement is more than just Amon. Listen Luyon," and at this he grabbed Luyon by the shoulder and turned him to face him, "Amon may have fooled us, he may have been a traitor. But are you willing to let everything we've worked for these past several years, everything we've built, all come to nothing? We still have something to fight for, don't we?"
Luyon was silent for a moment. In truth, his mind was still in chaos. The revelation that Amon, the man he had dedicated his life to, had been a charlatan, a bender even, had left him badly shaken, full of sorrow and doubt. Yet he sensed in Ryuko's passionate words something to hold on to, like a piece of flotsam to a drowning man.
At that moment they both heard the sound of numerous footsteps pounding down the hall outside the room. Releasing Luyon, Ryuko walked over to Amon's corpse and kneeled down next to it, looking as though he had just been observing it. Not long after, a squad of half a dozen chi-blockers burst into the room.
Stepping forward, the man at the head of the formation called out to the two lieutenants. "Lieutenant Luyon, Lieutenant Ryuko! What's going on? Where is…" Suddenly catching sight of the body on the ground, the man and his fellows stopped dead in their tracks. "Is… is that…?" The man gasped out.
The reaction of the gathered Equalists was predictable. Some fell to their knees, many wept, all cried out in despair. Still more Equalist soldiers arrived, entering the room or crowding by the door, joining in the grieving.
"What are you fools doing?" Ryuko's sharp voice cut through the mourning, gaining the attention of all in the room. Rising slowly to his feet from his spot next to Amon, fists clenched in apparent fury, Ryuko gazed back and forth through the small crowd, his one good eye catching the eyes of all those present. "The Avatar has escaped. Go find her!" Ryuko shouted, making a grand sweeping gesture with his arm. "Are you going to let this treachery go unpunished? Will you allow Amon to be unavenged!?"
The effect this had on the assembled Equalists was nearly instantaneous. Sorrow became anger, fists clenched, moans of despair became growls of rage. Turning almost as one, the chi-blockers and other Equalists stormed from the room, battle cries and shouts of "Find the Avatar!" filled the air as they spread out to search.
At once Luyon finally understood Ryuko's plan. "That's why you let them go…" He murmured softly, as much to himself as to Ryuko.
Ryuko walked up to him and once more put his hand on Luyon's shoulder. "We still have a reason to fight, Luyon." He spoke firmly, "And our comrades? They have more reason to fight than ever before."
Mako and Korra staggered down the hall as quickly as they could. On more than one occasion they had to hide as squads of Equalists ran by. The back hallways and lower levels of the battle arena complex, the areas not generally open to the public, could be a complicated, confusing place. Fortunately Mako had lived in the battle arena for nearly a year, and so knew the place like the back of his hand. After several tense minutes of running and hiding, the two finally made it to the room Mako had been looking for. After closing the door behind him Mako melted the door handle as well as the hinges in order to slow down any pursuit.
"Is that a good idea?" Korra asked, "It looks like this is a dead end."
Mako smirked slightly, "It looks that way but actually…" Mako moved to the center of the small storage room they were in. Pressing a concealed switch caused a square shaped section of the floor to fall away. Looking through the opening, Korra was surprised to see the waters of Yue Bay far below them.
"A hidden trap door!" Korra exclaimed.
Mako chuckled, "Bolin stumbled across this secret exit about six months ago. Literally. Screamed like a girl all the way down." The distance between the trap door and the water below, while not too dangerous, was still considerable. Fortunately Korra could… Mako nearly smacked himself. No, Korra couldn't do anything, her bending was gone. It was a good thing Mako had caught himself, he had been about to ask Korra to do some waterbending. The last thing he wanted to do was shove it in her face. Instead he simply asked her, "Can you swim?"
Korra nodded firmly, though her expression still seemed haggard and worn. Losing her bending seemed to have also exhausted her somehow. "I'll manage."
Holding onto each other once more, the two leapt through the trap door towards the water below. Part of the way down Mako used a fire blast to slow their descent, and the two landed somewhat gently in the water. Rising quickly to the surface the two took in their surroundings. They were in the underbelly of the battle arena, with the arena itself blocking out the sky above them and various supporting pillars rising out of the water around them.
Looking around Korra asked, "What now?"
Pointing east, in the direction of the bridge that connected the battle arena to the rest of Republic City, Mako replied, "Back to the city. We can figure out how to meet up with Bolin and the others once we've gotten away."
Swimming as quickly as their exhausted bodies would allow, Korra and Mako made their way back toward the city, using the bridge as cover. Behind them they could hear the sounds of Equalists continuing to search the area of the battle arena, thankfully unaware that the Avatar had already made her escape.
After swimming for a while the two finally made it to shore, where the climbed up a stone seawall and made it back onto the streets of Republic City. After a brief moment of consultation the two decided to head towards their secret entrance to the underground and return to Gommu the hobo's underground dwelling. Once again they were forced to take it slow, often hiding from Equalist patrols. Fortunately these patrols weren't actively looking for them, their members likely being as of yet unaware of what had transpired at the arena.
Finally the two made it back to the location of their secret entrance, hidden within a grove of trees and bushes of a small park. At nearly the exact same moment they both realized the flaw in their plan, and moaned aloud in stereo. The secret entrance was covered with a massive stone that Korra had always moved with earthbending. The stone was far too large to be moved with force alone, and as such they were now stuck.
"Great, what do we do now?" Korra asked exasperatedly.
Before Mako could reply they both heard a loud noise coming from further within the city.
"What was that?" Mako asked. He wouldn't have been surprised to hear loud noises coming from the direction of the battle arena, but that sound had come from the exact opposite direction.
"It came from that direction." Korra said, pointing. "Isn't that the way to Police Headquarters?"
At that moment they both heard another noise, the deep-throated rumbling of a massive creature, and watched as a flying bison took to the air a few blocks away.
"It's Tenzin! He must have gotten Pema and the baby out of jail!" Korra cried, her voice filled with relief.
"And he got our ride too." Mako replied.
Acting quickly, Mako shot a burst of fire into the air. Taking notice, Oogi and his riders changed course, heading towards them and setting down a few feet away.
"Thank goodness you're both alright." Tenzin looked greatly relieved. Sitting behind him were his wife and children and, much to their surprise, Chief Lin Beifong.
Lin reached down over the edge of the large saddle to help them up, "Get up. Quickly, before more Equalists arrive."
Wasting no time the two climbed up onto the massive creatures back and joined the others sitting within the saddle.
"Oogi, yip yip!" Tenzin called to his mount. Reacting immediately to traditional command for flight, Oogi sprung into the air with his six thickly muscled legs and swung his powerful tail, lifting them into the sky. Soon they were high above the buildings of Republic City, heading in a generally northwest direction.
"You two aren't hurt, are you? What happened with Amon?" Tenzin called back to them.
"Tenzin," Korra responded, seeming to gather herself as best she could, "Amon, he… he took my bending."
At this Tenzin jerked in shock, his head swinging around to look at Korra, mouth falling open in horror.
The reaction of the others in the saddle was no less aghast. "Not you too…" Beifong said sadly. Dimly Korra realized that this statement meant that the former police chief had also lost her bending, though that was cold comfort at this point.
"Does that mean that Amon wins?" Jinora asked, looking frightened.
"Not exactly," Mako replied, "Amon's dead."
This sent another ripple of surprise through the others.
"Did you…" Beifong began.
Mako shook his head. "No, it wasn't us. We'll explain everything later. First… Tenzin, we need to head that way." Mako called to the one directing the flying bison, pointing north to the mountain that shadowed part of the city. "Bolin and Asami are with General Iroh on the other side of that mountain. We should go pick them up."
Tenzin nodded and pulled on the reins, leading Oogi in a long, slow curve northwards.
"General Iroh is here?" Beifong queried. Locked, ironically, within one of her own jail cells at Police Headquarters, she had been able to hear the sounds of battle outside, but had been unable to ascertain exactly what was happening in the outside world.
Korra nodded. "The Equalists deployed some kind of high-speed airships to destroy the fleet. The three of them took Naga to go find the airfield they launched from and destroy them."
Moving as fast as Oogi could fly, the group headed away from Republic City and vanished over the mountain. Unfortunately, none of them happened to glance at the statue of Avatar Aang, standing in the middle of the bay.
Moving carefully, Iroh, General of the United Forces First Fleet, slowly lowered himself towards the ground. It had been a tense, exhausting climb down the stone body of the previous Avatar, but he was finally almost to the bottom. He was extremely fortunate that the pilot of the Equalist airship he had been riding had crashed into the massive stone effigy, and that the Equalists had draped two massive flags from the Avatars wind staff; otherwise he might have been in for a long drop and a sudden stop.
It had been a narrow thing, but he had succeeded in destroying the last of the high-speed airships that had managed to take off. He could only hope that Bolin and Asami had succeeded in getting the others. He had listened carefully on his way down, but had not heard the telltale buzzing of the airships approaching, so he surmised that the two teenagers had at least managed to keep the others from taking off, either by destroying the runways or the vehicles themselves, hopefully both. Either way, his part in this battle was likely over. He now just needed to find a way to regroup with the others.
At long last Iroh's feet touched solid ground. Stepping away from the stone statue he turned… to find a unit of at least two dozen chi-blockers surrounding him.
Sighing, and then smiling resignedly, Iroh set himself into a ready firebending stance.
I sure hope the others got away safely. He thought, as the first chi-blockers charged him.
After flying for a short time and reaching a valley on the other side of the mountain, the riders on the flying bison spotted the secret Equalist airfield, a collection of large buildings in the middle of an open field, with numerous dirt runways leading from it. Mako smiled as he saw the torn up state of the various runways. Looks like Bolin's been here.
"Look, down there!" Ikki shouted, pointing to a spot in the open field, where two figures stood next to a large, white polar bear-dog, one of them jumping up and down waving his arms enthusiastically.
After landing Korra, Mako, Lin and Tenzin dismounted to speak to the two. Naga barked happily on spotting Korra.
After quickly embracing his brother, Mako looked them both over. "You're both alright?"
Asami nodded, smiling slightly, "Yes, we're both fine. And we destroyed all the airships too."
"Heck yes, we did!" Bolin cheered, "We came, we saw, we kicked some Equalist tail!"
Looking over at Korra, Asami couldn't help but notice her somewhat dispirited expression, prompting her to ask, "What about you two? Are you both okay?"
"Oh yeah, what happened?" Bolin asked, "Did you complete your mission? And didn't Tenzin already leave?"
"Yeah, about that…" Mako sighed, "Amon's been taken care of, but he took away Korra's bending."
"What!?" Asami gasped.
"No way…" Bolin muttered forlornly.
They both looked to Korra, who nodded grimly but didn't say anything.
"About all of that…" Tenzin interrupted, "You said earlier that Amon was dead, but you didn't say how. What exactly happened?"
"It's kind of complicated," Korra replied, "We'll have to start at the beginning. We went to Air Temple Island in the hopes of ambushing Amon. That's where we found Tarrlok locked up in the attic."
"Councilman Tarrlok? Why just him?" Beifong asked.
"That's just it," Mako continued for Korra, "Turns out Amon is Tarrlok's brother, and a bloodbender too. That's how he's been winning all this time. He's been using bloodbending to take people's bending away."
"Unbelievable." Lin responded, aghast.
"I guess that explains it…" Tenzin murmured.
"How many kids did Yakone have!?" Bolin complained.
"Anyway," Mako continued, ignoring his brother, "We went to the Equalist rally to try to tell the other Equalists, but none of them believed us. After we freed Tenzin and the kids we ended up facing Amon alone in one of the back storage rooms. That's when he used his bending on us." Mako shook his head, "We tried to fight back, but there was nothing we could do. He could bend on us with his mind. He took Korra's bending and he was about to take mine when something happened. It turns out a couple of his Lieutenants were watching out of sight, Amon didn't notice them either. They saw him using bending and when he had his back turned one of them snuck up behind him and attacked him, then killed him with a pair of those electric gloves they use."
The others were as surprised by this revelation as Korra and Mako had been. "An Equalist killed Amon!?" Lin asked.
"So… wait… does this mean it's over?" Bolin queried.
Mako shook his head, "I don't think so."
"Maybe we should head back to Republic City to see how things are." Asami put forward.
"No, that wouldn't be a good idea." Tenzin replied, shaking his head. "Even if Amon is gone his followers may not all know yet. We should wait a while before trying to find out the state of the city."
"Hold on," Korra spoke up, noticing their group was still one short, "Where's the General?" She had been expecting the firebender General to walk up some time during their conversation, but looking around she saw no one moving. No one at all except for an unconscious Equalist a few feet behind Bolin and Asami.
"Oh… uh… about that." Bolin said, "You guys didn't happen to see him on your way here, did you?"
"He's not with you guys anymore?" Mako asked.
"Yeah see, the thing is…" Bolin started sheepishly.
"We got captured when we first got here." Asami interrupted Bolin. "We escaped thanks to Naga, but some of the airships got off the ground. Apparently my father intercepted the General's message to Commander Bumi, and they started launching to go after the second fleet. We managed to stop all but a few of them, and then Iroh boarded one of them to go after the ones that did take off. They were headed back towards Republic City. You didn't see any of them?"
"Come to think of it, I did hear that loud droning noise from earlier again a few minutes before Tenzin broke me out of prison." Lin supplied. "I heard explosions, but I couldn't see what was happening."
"There was nothing in the sky by the time the kids and I escaped from the battle arena." Tenzin said.
"If that's the case then we have to go back." Korra stated determinedly. "The General must be somewhere in the city. We should go pick him up."
Tenzin shook his head firmly at this, "Absolutely not. It's still too soon for us to go rushing back in. The Equalists may be waiting for us this time." Then turning to Asami, he asked, "You said my brother is nearby with a fleet?"
Asami nodded, "General Iroh said something about Red Sands Island."
Tenzin nodded in return, "If that's the case we should go there. We can meet up with the United Forces and plan our next move."
"But we can't just leave Iroh behind!" Korra exclaimed angrily.
"Korra! Get a hold of yourself." Moving quickly between her and Tenzin, Lin grabbed Korra firmly by the shoulders. "Think carefully about the situation. Neither you nor I can do anything in our current condition. What's more we've got Pema and the baby here, and everyone already seems exhausted. If we go back now we could be rushing into a trap. I've met the General before, and he's quite strong. He can take care of himself. Our top priority right now is getting to safety. We can decide what to do next when we've had a chance to rest ourselves."
Korra tried hard to think of a good argument. She wracked her brains for something to say that would refute what Lin said, but nothing came. Her mind was still a whirlwind of chaos and despair after what had happened to her. And unfortunately the fact of the matter was Lin was right, she didn't know what she could do to help at this point. Any rescue attempt they made, the onus of doing all the fighting would fall on the others. On Tenzin, who was distracted and afraid for his children, on Mako, who had practically carried her from the battle arena, and on Bolin and Asami, both of whom appeared to have gone through the wringer themselves. Korra glanced over to where Pema and the children sat waiting on Oogi's back. The kids looked back at her, the look of fear they'd had in their eyes when they had been tied to a post before Amon had still not faded. There was nothing she could say.
Letting her resistance fade, Korra nodded tersely. "Alright, I understand."
"Hold on a minute," Asami said, walking over to the unconscious Equalist and turning him over onto his back, "We should take him with us." Korra was surprised to note that the Equalist in question was in fact a tied up Hiroshi Sato.
Beifong agreed, "We should turn him over to the United Forces. If we leave him here he'll just keep making new machines for the Equalists."
"Um, not for nothing but is there enough room for everybody here?" Bolin asked, "Where's Naga going to sit?" Behind him Naga barked in response.
"Don't worry about that!" Ikki called from on top of Oogi, holding up a long rope with Meelo.
"Never underestimate the strength of a flying bison!" Meelo continued. Naga whined in response, apparently not liking where things were going.
A few moments later and they were in the air again, Naga now hanging uncomfortably in a rope harness that dangled from a rope connecting her to Oogi. As they flew west, out to sea in a direction that would take them on a wide looping course to Red Sands Island, Korra looked back and could just barely see the tops of the skyscrapers of Republic City. Though she had not completely lost hope yet, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was seeing it for the last time in a very long time.
Ryuko and Luyon walked quickly through the halls of the battle arena, receiving reports and giving commands to various Equalist soldiers. Things for the Equalists had gone from bad to worse in the hours since Amon's death. They had long since discovered the room the Avatar had used to escape through, and any further attempts to locate her were deemed moot after she was spotted flying away from the city along with the escaped airbenders. Of course, this would have been a much more serious blow had they actually intended to catch her in the first place.
Luyon had at first been hesitant about letting the benders escape, but Ryuko had explained to him the necessity of it, "Without Amon our comrades will be tempted to lose focus," he had explained, "In order to keep them moving forward they will need something to strive towards. In this case vengeance will make an excellent motivator."
Far more serious was the news of several of their satoplanes being shot down over the bay when one of their number apparently turned on them. Even worse was the fact that only five planes had been spotted, in spite of Hiroshi Sato's planned attack on the United Forces second fleet, as well as the fact that the escaping benders had fled in the direction of the northern mountain, none of which boded well for their hidden airfield. A squad of chi-blockers had been dispatched to the airfield, and the two lieutenants were still waiting for a report back.
But all of that would have to wait for later. For the present, the throng of Equalist followers still waiting outside, as well as all the others throughout the city, needed to be addressed and told of what had happened to Amon. Already rumors had begun to spread outside of the battle arena, and they needed to move quickly to frame the story for their comrades in the proper way.
As the two moved towards the front of the arena, a young Equalist came up to them and saluted, "Lieutenant Ryuko, everything is ready for your address, sir."
Ryuko nodded. He and Luyon had agreed that it would be him that would deliver the message to the others. "Good. Is the radio equipment all set up?"
The young soldier nodded, "Yes sir. All of Republic City will hear your words."
"Excellent work. Dismissed." The young man saluted again and then departed.
Luyon turned to his fellow lieutenant, "What will you tell them?"
Walking forward, Ryuko responded simply, "What they need to hear."
Walking through a door that led them outside, the two found themselves standing on a wide balcony that overlooked the large open area directly in front of the battle arena. Below them, thousands of Equalists milled around in a crowd, chattering amongst themselves. The noise slowly died down as the two Lieutenants emerged from within and Ryuko turned on a microphone that had been set up on the railing of the balcony.
"My fellow Equalists," Ryuko began, silencing the last of the chatter from beneath them, "Brothers and sisters. I come to you with grave tidings. Our leader, the great Amon… is dead." This of course met with a loud outcry from the crowd below them. The outpouring of grief closely mirrored that of the first few Equalist soldiers to discover Amon's body. Raising his voice to be heard over the noise, Ryuko continued, "As you all know, only a short time ago our victory celebration was interrupted when the Avatar launched an attack against Amon. First she attacked his character, making some absurd and libelous accusations against him. When we, of course, refused to be fooled by her words she resorted to attacking his very person."
Many below booed and jeered, casting aspersions on Avatar Korra. Raising his hand to once more quiet the noise, Ryuko moved on with the tale, "The battle that followed many of you did not see, as the fighting carried Amon away from where we could support him. However, even fighting alone against the Avatar, our great leader was at first victorious. Avatar Korra was defeated, and her bending was purged." At this, many let out startled exclamations, not having been aware of this. Ryuko pushed on, regardless, "However, at what should have been his moment of final triumph, Amon was struck treacherously from behind by the Avatar's firebender companion." Many growled in anger at this. They all remembered the young firebender who had been seen in the Avatar's company.
At last, Ryuko began to get to the most important part of his speech, "Unfortunately, in spite of our best efforts, the Avatar and her companions escaped, and have already fled the city. No doubt she goes to summon more benders from the United Forces to attack us. I am certain that they will be here soon, most likely they think us already beaten." At this Ryuko raised his hands palms up, taking in the entire audience. "Equalists of Republic City, I ask you… What will you do when they arrive? Will you surrender?"
Angry interjections and furious denials greeted this question. Ryuko's voice began to grow louder as his speech approached its climax, "As for me, I will fight! I will not let the benders have their way! I will continue to resist until the life has left my body!" At this point the crowd was completely riled up, cheering and following Ryuko's every word, the noise below him began to reach a fever pitch. "The benders will be here soon. They will never be content to leave us to ourselves. But no matter what forces they send at us, we will be victorious! No matter what trials come our way, we will prevail! Because our hearts are strong, and our cause is just!" Raising his fist towards the assembled crowd, Ryuko roared, "Vengeance for Amon! Equality or death!"
The crowd roared back in response, many taking up the chant. From behind Ryuko Luyon leaned back, overwhelmed. He had never imagined that anyone could rile up the crowd as effectively as Amon. In spite of the fact that he knew the speech was based on a lie, he couldn't help but feel his heart soar at the response of the audience. As Ryuko had said, their fight was not over yet.
Meanwhile, standing on the edge of the balcony, his lone eye scanning the crowd, Ryuko smiled a smile that was concealed to all but him by his mask. And so the next chapter begins. Amon may have started this story, but I will write the finale.
Author's note:
Thank you all for reading this far. This is my first fic, which begins, obviously, at the end of season 1 of Legend of Korra. As you may or may not be aware, Legend of Korra was originally only supposed to be a single season long, thus causing the writers to have to wrap up all the various plotlines by the end of episode 12. The result felt rather rushed to me, with the Equalists conveniently disappearing, the hastily resolved romance with Mako, and of course the deus ex machina: "Korra gets her powers back from Aang". Not that I hated it, it was just frustrating to me that the Equalists, probably the coolest villains in the Avatar series so far, were given so little time in the story. This fic will continue the story of Korra and the Equalists, only this time on the world stage, rather than just isolated to a single city.
A few things to note: The otherwise nameless "Lieutenant" from canon will in this fic be called Luyon. I will also be expanding the character list, most particularly in the Equalists, so expect some OCs. This fic will assume that the Equalists had six lieutenants, each in charge of a different division of the Equalist forces. The other four will be introduced next chapter.
Also, the Equalists will have their own unique ways of referring to their technology. For instance, what Korra and the others called "high-speed airships" will be referred to by the Equalists as "satoplanes". I feel this makes sense as the Equalists themselves would know what they are, and thus have a designated name for them.
As of the posting of this first chapter, season 2 of LoK has just begun. I will almost certainly be including some content from season 2, as it actually fits in nicely with what I had planned.
Once again, thank you all for reading. Reviews of any kind will be greatly appreciated. I hope to see you again next time.
Muledragon